I've been looking to upgrade to a bigger Egg (currently have medium) and have been talking with someone who has a new one-time used Large for sale. It comes with nest and nest handler, cover, and plate setter for $650. As always, I'm concerned about warranty, but wanted to know what some of you think a good price would be. Let me know your thoughts.
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Not sure if that is market where you live. I do know that at the Eggfest I competed in the used eggs would go for 800 from the store for a large with everything you described. I have seen other eggfest that do a little better on the discount down to almost 700. As for the warranty do keep in mind that you can buy any part of the egg from the manufacturer. Which is nice if you do not have a warranty.
In my opinion based on when I used to have a egg for 5 years or so it is unlikely you will use the warranty. The only thing that goes wrong on eggs in my experience is the gasket burns up sometimes. This is my opinion and experience though....others might have a different experience. -
Personally, I have to ask - is going from a 15" grate to an 18" grate worth $650 to you? Personally, I can see the medium BGE being space constrained, but also see that being the case on the large BGE. I don't know what other cookers you have, if any, but my thoughts are this - you have a Kamado for when you want to use a ceramic cooker, and that I would invest the $650 into something with even more space than the large BGE, and potentially, a different type of cooker to boot.
My smallest cooker is my Weber Performer Deluxe, and I find its 22" cooking grate (with an 18" Hover Grill above that) constraining at times. I would have trouble using a smaller cooker than 22" I think. I use rib racks to fit 3 to 5 racks of ribs in there, uncut, but on an 18" grate, you will have to cut all ribs in half I think, and use multiple levels of grates, or a rib rack even then.
I think if I were to win the lottery or get the urge for a ceramic cooker, the Primo XL is what I would look hard at, and shop for a good deal on. Short of the XL model, the BGE is just too space constrained for the money, or at least that is my take on it. I understand the advantages of ceramic cookers, but just feel $650 would go a LONG way in the kettle world, and ultimately produce the same end result food-wise.Comment
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Wow! That’s insanity at $9500 for a cooker, I would be afraid to break it... -
Attjack haha - I think a big part of it is that I didn't spend my own money on one. I love the SNS Kamado, but not sure when I would have been able to justify a $1400 expense on any grill. Now that I have it, I love it. I know you have the Primo and love it. Can I do all the same stuff on the Performer or a kettle? Pretty much, other than high heat - I can't get a kettle to 700+ degrees. And in kamado mode, I can smoke more for sure due to the size.
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jfmorris brings up a good point. You aren’t going to a much larger cooker. Slightly larger but not that much. You could sell your medium, which would offset the price of the large. That may be worth it, but even parting with the medium for $400 that works out to $250 for 2 inches larger diameter cooking surface.
But yea, $650 is a good price for a large egg with all that stuff included.Comment
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Sounds like a good deal to me. You can add cooking space by getting another slightly smaller grill and support it with carriage bolts.Comment
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I think I would look the price of an Large egg from an Eggfest in full warranty after 4 hours of use, and subtract the cost to replace the base (which I think is the most expensive part). I have had my egg for 8 years and in warranty replaced the base and the fire ring for free. They really honor their warranty. The person selling the egg is only factoring in used and not the value of the warranty. Cal Hardware Store is offering this package.
One additional thought is that if you bump up o an Xl the firebox depth and width are proportionally different from the Large, Medium and Small. I have a MiniMax and it also different which means it cooks differently than the Large, Medium and small.
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Thanks everyone for the quick feedback. I have many grills and smokers so space for cooks is not an issue. I just love cooking on my egg and especially the flavor profile that it imparts on the food. It's frustrating when I run out of room for when I want to cook a little more than the medium can handle even when using multiple grate levels. For example, when I want to cook abt poppers, and wings for Sunday football, I quickly run out of room. Or for Thanksgiving, I had to use my egg because of a heavy downpour, and my 14lb Turkey barely fit. During the winter, my Egg does a lot of the heavy lifting especially during bad weather conditions. I think the Large is the sweet spot that will behave more like my medium versus the XL. I will sell my medium to offset the cost of the new Large. I think I will counter with $500 to compensate for the warranty and see if he bites.Comment
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Another option is keep the medium, then you can have two! So load the large up with wings and the medium with poppers or wherever. If you use them a lot there isn’t a delimma. And I agree, it’s hard to beat ceramic cookers for cold weather. They just hold heat.Comment
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Just to close the loop, I did not get the BGE. They were able to sell for higher than my offer. Thanks everyone for their input and I'm still on the lookout to upgrade to the Large.Comment
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@dsaffes I appreciate you letting us know the conclusion to your negotiations.Comment
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dshaffes even though that didn’t work out for you there is a lot of good food for thought on this thread.Comment
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Not too easy to do in a Medium, but can be done. When I do two layers I don't use the plate setter. Instead I use a ceramic grill store spider and a pizza stone as heat difuser. Then the grate on fire ring with 1" spacers. On top of that goes a KJ expander (has legs). Works pretty well, but the bottom cooks faster than the top.Comment
Just saying!
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